Is That You, God? It’s Me, Morgan Freeman

Weekend Preview: Freeman’s quest; Jazz Greats Gone Wild

Morgan Freeman doesn’t play the title role in the National Geographic Channel’s new six-episode series, The Story of God (beginning this Sunday), but he sure sounds like Him.

Resplendent in a cream-colored Panama hat, the velvet-voiced Freeman travels the globe from Egypt to India to Guatemala, searching for answers to cosmic questions as old as humanity.

“I’d like to say it was fun,” Freeman tells Movies for Grownups, “but that would trivialize the experience too much. I had never been to Israel or India — and I’d never climbed a pyramid in Guatemala before! And let me tell you, even though they’re both spiritual places, the Vatican in Rome and Varanasi in India are two very different places. The Vatican is pristine; Varanasi is dirt! You’ve got some grit there. Cremations on the Ganges, people bathing in there. That is dramatic.”

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Tom Hiddleston in “I Saw the Light”

British star Tom Hiddleston sees nothing odd about playing country legend Hank Williams in the new biopic I Saw the Light. The long, lanky London-born owner of a fine singing voice also pulls off a convincing Southern accent.

The fact is, Hiddleston tells Movies for Grownups, the British love Dixie.

“For us, it’s exotic,” he says. “It feels authentically American, like an ancient aspect of American culture. The Beatles loved it; the Rolling Stones loved it. They were listening to the blues. They were listening to Hank.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: A fond farewell to Patty Duke, 69, an early friend of Movies for Grownups. For our radio show in 2004, the Oscar winner and former president of the Screen Actors Guild told us this sobering story of Hollywood ageism.

New in Theaters

Miles Ahead
Producer-director-writer-star Don Cheadle does everything but run the catering truck for this heartfelt bio of Miles Davis, told through flashbacks as the drug-addled genius spends a long night tracking down a stolen session tape. It’s a jumble out there, but Cheadle is brilliant as the troubled trumpeter.

Everybody Wants Some!!
In the “spiritual sequel” to his 1993 high school comedy, Dazed and Confused, writer-director Richard Linklater (Boyhood) presents an aimless weekend in the life of some circa-1980 college students. Sadly, it turns out a lot of those kids are as insufferable as you remember them.

Helen Mirren stars as a British commander who must decide whether to risk killing an innocent girl in a drone strike on a terrorist training camp. The performances are universally excellent — especially that of the late Alan Rickman, in his final film role. FULL REVIEW

Director-cowriter Nanni Moretti’s extraordinary study of a film director trying to balance work with her caregiving responsibilities to her dying mother strikes one visceral chord after another.

Miracles From HeavenJennifer Garner and Queen Latifah costar in this faith-based film about a mother whose daughter not only survives a terrifying accident but finds herself miraculously cured of a “fatal” digestive disorder.

The cast of the 2002 original is back, as boisterous and big-haired as ever. Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan shine as 70-somethings who learn that, because of a clerical error, their 50-year marriage is not legit. FULL REVIEW